Pangolin

a peculiar digging animal. The family is related to that of the armadillo, the anteater, and the sloth. There are several species, extending from China and Borneo to South Africa. The largest is an African species six feet in length, known as the giant pangolin. The best known species is the common pangolin of Ceylon and India. It lives in the lowland jungles. A mature specimen is about thirty-six inches in length, including the tail. The weight is eighteen pounds. From the tip of the nose to the end of the tail it is covered with flat, shield-shaped plates or scales of clear gray horn. The scales lie close upon the skin and are arranged to break joints like the scales of a fish. The tail is about five and one-half inches wide where it joins the body. In fact, body and tail are continuous, like the body of a lizard. In walking the pangolin carries his back highly arched at the middle. The tail barely clears the ground. When alarmed the animal ducks its nose between its front feet, brings its flat tail forward over its feet and face, and coils up quickly like a snail, presenting a perfect armor to the outside world. The muscles of the tail are so stout that even two men cannot straighten out the coil. Like the armadillo the pangolin is toothless. It has powerful claws for digging. It lives chiefly on ants. It digs open the anthills and gathers up the ants with a long, slender tongue. See Anteater; Sloth